Panel Discusses Financial Crisis

Panelists at the Harvard Extension School’s 100th-anniversary symposium yesterday reflected both on the consequences of the economic downturn and offered forward-looking visions of what recovery should look like.

According to Dean of Continuing Education and University Extension Michael Shinagel, the event—entitled “Doing Business in the Post-Meltdown Economy: What, if Anything, Will be Different?”—aimed to bring together panelists of diverse backgrounds in order to holistically inform Harvard students.

Richard Parker, a lecturer in public policy and senior fellow of the Joan Shorenstein Center on the Press, Politics, and Public Policy, spoke of what he called the “pain of the financial meltdown.”

He also cited the deaths of children in Third World countries as a symptom of the financial recession.

Parker emphasized the importance of institutions such as the Extension School for providing knowledge that could potentially combat greed and short-sightedness on Wall Street.

He also characterized the duty of the Extension School as training a new generation of leaders, describing the institution as the “Hope Diamond in the crown of knowledge.”

Stuart H. Sadick, a partner at the executive search and leadership consulting firm Heidrick & Struggles, discussed the process of acclimating to the economy.

“I think I have a little bit of a problem with the notion of meltdown,” he said. “I think what we have just gone through is a profound, challenging adjustment.”

Sadick described the economic slump as an opportunity to reinvent oneself.

“When everyone zigs, you better learn to zag,” he added.